SAN SEBASTIÁN, September 28 (by EUROPA PRESS Special Envoy, Francisco Serrano) –
Guillermo García Directing the short film “Even if it’s night” It tells the story of the friendship of two young people living in Cañada Real, where the families living in this Madrid neighborhood have been without electricity since 2020.
“People are tired of living there without electricity. When there was electricity, they didn’t want to leave there, and now evacuation is easier under these circumstances. Some people live without running water. “These are conditions that are not their own, there is a violation of human rights and, above all, the children are not growing up in an environment conducive to education, they have no opportunity to go to school, they just have difficulties,” lamented the director. of cinema in an interview with Europa Press on the occasion of the presentation of the short film in San Sebastián.
The filmmaker assures that there is no progress in improving the situation, although the neighbors “constantly” raise their voices and fight to change the situation. Guillermo García reported that children have to walk for an hour along a dirt road to get to school. He therefore understands that access to education is worse “and therefore fewer resources.”
Looking to the future, he does not know what lies ahead for the families of Cañada Real, but believes that resettlement is “a sensitive issue because it is cyclical” and regrets that families are sometimes “fragmented,” causing them to remain the idea of “marginalization.”
“I would like to believe that there will be a social policy that really responds to the needs, that really responds to the needs of the people who are there and not to other needs.that are often heard and given attention,” he added.
The idea of making a short film in the Cañada Real came from the observation and understanding that the images that are being disseminated are “paternalistic” and “miserabilistic”. “When I arrived, my first impression was thinking: Oh man, this place is so close to my house, it’s 15 minutes from Madrid. I wondered how I could bring him closer to the center. But on the other hand, it made me very excited and moved. It moves me deeply to see how the people there resist, how despite living in the shadows there is an energy, a vitality and a light.“, he assured.
“In a way, I wanted to contribute through cinema, contribute something to society and also challenge it, challenge the viewer who is watching this film in this cinema,” he says.
The filmmaker admits that working on this short film brought him “a lot,” including friendships, anecdotes and good times. “It was a great learning experience. It put me in front of the mirror all the time.” This helped me a lot to put into perspective all the drama that can happen in my life and everything that could influence me too much.“, he admits.
When Guillermo García was asked how he approached the neighbors to record the short film, he replied that it was based on repeating the idea he had many times and having respect for the people and their environment. Next, the filmmaker will expand on this short film and is already looking for more people from Cañada Real to participate in his feature film.
